Pembroke College was founded in 1347, the third oldest of the Cambridge University colleges and the earliest to survive on its current site.
The Mill Lane project, with architects Haworth Tompkins, represented a one-off opportunity to develop the area opposite the Porter’s Lodge at Pembroke College, to provide new student accommodation, teaching spaces, and flexible use spaces.
The retained buildings were refurbished, with their layouts altered, and new infill buildings were used to connect the existing fabric together in a more logical sequence. The United Reformed Church was converted to a music and teaching space. Behind the Trumpington Street buildings, a new exposed oak glulam foyer knits together three of the existing buildings, one of which had a new timber frame and roof inserted within its original brick walls.
Phase Two saw demolition of several 19th and 20th century buildings of lesser importance, to enable the construction of contemporary student accommodation. The new blocks are gathered around Dolby Court, with a large attenuation tank buried below it to limit surface water run-off. Millers Yard on Mill Lane was heavily refurbished, retaining and upgrading as much of the original flooring as possible, before being connected to two of the new blocks.
